Welch – After graduating a wealth of all-state athletes, nobody would’ve thought twice if Summers County failed to replicate the success it did last year when it made the state tournament ticket.
That hasn’t been the case.
After beating James Monroe in five sets twice during the regular season, the Lady Bobcats swept them 3-0 for the second time in as many days, claiming the Class A Region 3, Section 1 championship Thursday evening at Mount View.
With their backs against the wall the Mavericks looked poised to force a decisive third match in the tournament. A quick 5-0 start in the first set gave the visitors from Monroe County something to be excited about, but the Lady Bobcats didn’t fret and their head coach never lost confidence in their ability to stop the bleeding.
“That’s kind of my coaching style – to just understand that they are kids at the end of the day,” Summers head coach Kelsie Lively said. “They’re not professional athletes, so they’re going to make mistakes no matter what. I just let them play through some of those bad mistakes and gain their own momentum. At the end of the day I can’t go out there and play for them as much as I’d love to dust off my kneepads, I can’t do that anymore. I let them try to figure their way through the game and work through those tribulations on their own, unless we get way out of there way. But if I think they can fight back I’m going to let them do so.”
Lively’s call proved to be the right one as her Bobcats roared back to take the lead at 13-11. James Monroe answered after going down 16-12, getting the set back to within a point at 20-19 but a 5-1 run, capped by an emphatic spikes from junior Sullivan Pivont, gave the Bobcats a 1-0 advantage.
The best was yet to come as the two squads battled neck and neck throughout the next set, coming to a 24-24 tie but two straight scores from the Lady Bobcats put them one set away from clinching a sectional title.
They did so with more ease than in the first two, building a 24-15 lead and ultimately clinching the title with a 25-17 victory.
“I think we used all of our energy,” James Monroe senior Shannon Phipps said of the third set. “I think we get frazzled with each other and just wonder what’s going on.”
“We’re still trying to get our chemistry back,” James Monroe head coach Julie Bradley said. “We had quarantines this season and we had a setter that had to miss time with a medical issue so we’re trying to rebuild all of that momentum. We were playing well before that and we’re hoping we can find that momentum again.”
Frustrating the Mavericks throughout the evening was the Summers County front line that featured Pivont, Maggie Stover and Emma Lindsey. With two players above six feet tall the Lady Bobcats stifled the Mavericks at the net.
“We’re very fortunate to have two players over six feet tall,” Lively said. “That way they can hold down the middle ground and be that brick wall we need. It kind of took them a little while to get there this year but they’re finally starting to come into their own and starting to get blocks every game and it’s even really nice.”
The sectional title was the second in as many years for the Lady Bobcats and the first for Lively, a first-year head coach who played on the 2011 Class AA title team at Summers.
“I think it’s a great accomplishment being a young team with a new coach,” Lively said. “Any type of win and plaque you can take home sort of solidifies you’re there for a reason. It’s lets everybody know we’re not here to playa round.It’s been 10 years since I got my own so it’s a nice little treat the last couple years to watch them grow and play the game we love.”
Summers County will play Charleston Catholic Saturday at Charleston Catholic with the winner earning a spot in next week’s state tournament.
Email: tylerjackson@lootpress.com and follow on Twitter @tjack94